** ALBANIA. 13755, checking whether R. Tirana is back in scheduled English Mon-Sat at 1430-1500: Sept 6 at 1430 nothing audible vs Cuban overload from 13680, 13740, 13780; 1431 a carrier, and can barely make out Klara`s voice with English transmission schedule. Registers S9 but also with low modulation, unusable. European propagation very poor today.
Last week, Anne Fanelli in NY found the 2000 English broadcast on 13640 instead in Albanian. Drita Çiço reports that there was a problem with their STL to Shijak for a few days so instead it relayed the domestic program I, picked up off the air.
Does this mean all English broadcasts were replaced by Albanian, even all foreign-language transmissions? Shijak should keep some evergreen recordings on hand to play back from there in such emergencies, or better yet, have a backup feed route (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36 barely audible Sept 6 at 1316 with pop music, a bit stronger than hetted 15480 Rampisham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Sept 6:
8400, very poor at 1256. No others found up to 18 MHz after 1300; E Asian conditions were generally poor today.
9855, Sept 6 at 1344 heard some FD-like music, but soon with vocals, so rules that out. Not // 9845 CNR1 jammer; gone at 1408 recheck. It`s really CRI Chinese service at 12-14, 500 kW, 215 degrees from a Beijing site, per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 9965, new frequency for DentroCuban Jamming Command, Sept 6 at 1408, heavy grind over something modulating. Or is it DRM? So hard to tell them apart. Then I also hear 4 pulses per second, so it`s jammer; later mixed with weaker 3 pulses per second, approx. Still going at 1501. Gone at 1638 check; but heavy jamming on 9800 --- oops, that`s really DRM from Sackville.
Suspect 9965 a new R. República frequency; is that right, my friend in Havana? Meanwhile 9955 WRMI with Prague was not being jammed at 1408+. 9965 could not be a punch-up error for 9955 as there are multiple jamming sites involved. The collateral victim is R. Australia via Palau, previously audible here altho no comparison to Shep on 9580, 9590; 9965 at 11-13 in English, 1300-1430 in Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
13880, RHC leapfrog, Sept 6 at 1328, S9+10 mixed with jamming clix. 13880 had not been audible a few minutes earlier as I tuned by; now fundamentals 13680 and 13780 are extremely strong, S9+25 plus; weaker `frog on other side 13580 also audible mixed with VOA Somali via Madagascar. RHC feature was ``Figuras en la Historia``, someone who could imitate flutes and contrabass with his mouth, but never heard an example (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI, Sept 6 at 1337 in English hour, Indonesian lesson marred by continuing audio dropouts every few sex degrading comprehension further; otherwise VG reception with barely audible 9525 het from unknown (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MOROCCO. 15341.1, Sept 6 at 1435, poor with Arabic music. Not only is RTM off-frequency from 15340, it is off-the-off-frequency by about 0.1 kHz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 15435, excerpt from Mme Butterfly, Sept 6 at 1324, cut to RRI outro in Chinese, IS to 1327*. So was the singing in Romanian, Chinese, or Italian? Heard too little of it to tell.
Also had weak het on low side around 15434 --- probably ChiCom jamming and/or V. of Tibet via UAE varying from nominal 15430, at 1330-1400. AFAIK, the ChiCom are not deliberately jamming RRI in Chinese, the lucky former allies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [and non]. Tnx to tip from Dan Ervin in IA, UT Sept 5, Voice of Russia now using 9665 in English at 0002 check UT Monday Sept 6. Previously, 9665 had carried Radio PMR alternating quarter-hours in English, German, French in unpredictable order, at 0000-0200 only on UT Mon-Fri, and off the air Sat-Sun, while VOR used the same transmitter for English daily starting at 0200.
Now PMR is gone (to somewhere else, or off?), and VOR appears to be using 9665 from at least 0000 to 0200. It was previously also in use at 02-04 for `Central` America, and maybe still so. The Moldovan use of 9665 at 00-02 officially ended on Sept 4, anyway.
I also checked 9890, which had been in use for VOR English to NAm at 2200-0200, and could not hear it at all at 0004 UT Sept 6. Usual DentroCuban jamming from 9885 against non-VOA, but should have been some trace of 9890 if on. So maybe 9665 replaces it for at least those two hours.
9665 itself was only fair with flutter, and with lo het from presumed Brasil, no comparison to solid signal from Serbia [non] on 9675.
We suggested long ago that VOR should use 9665 on Sat & Sun at 00-02 rather than letting it go to waste, but now they have apparently taken it over seven days a week.
Have these changes been entered on the VOR English schedule at
http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/schedule ?? Of course not! They haven`t even fixed the `15000` typo we pointed out months ago. This is probably one of a number of unpublicized VOR changes for the no longer extant `S-10` season, made in early September (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. Monitored WINB Sept 6 to see whether they would evacuate 9335 following WBCQ 9330 protests. At 1422 still on 9265 with Brother Scare. At 1457 to ID and address, but heard no mention of next frequency, off at 1458*. Then I sat on 9335 which had open carrier, but that turned out to be VOK opening at 1500. Then tuned further and at 1501 found BS on 9355, not synch 9385 WWRB, so 9355 must be new WINB frequency for him M-F at 15-16, 18-20, and now the erroneous listing of 9355 on The Overcomer Ministry website becomes correct!
No QRM heard on 9355 initially, but scheduled for IBB Tinang at 15-16, Saipan at 17-21, with VOA Vietnamese at 15-16, RFA Chinese (consequently jammed) at 18-20.
Meanwhile, 9265 is totally available during this period too. One might wonder why, if Brother Scare is such a good friend to WBCQ, he would ever allow himself to QRM it from 9335 to 9330 for a sesquimonth. Of course, 9330 is currently carrying competing gospel huxters. The buck is passed to FCC for choosing 9335.
At 1638 check, WINB back on 13570 vs CODAR for the interval between BS and BS consisting of the androgynous anapaestic preacher/ess from Fence Lake NM at 16-18, and presumably again 20-21 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9370-, WTJC, Sept 6 at 1339, quite distorted during a rendition of Amazing Grace. Can`t imagine anyone listening to that voluntarily. Even worse during another hymn at 1421: only for masochists. Time to shut the transmitter down again and fiddle with it, but they never get that homemade POS back into proper funxioning for long (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
Last week, Anne Fanelli in NY found the 2000 English broadcast on 13640 instead in Albanian. Drita Çiço reports that there was a problem with their STL to Shijak for a few days so instead it relayed the domestic program I, picked up off the air.
Does this mean all English broadcasts were replaced by Albanian, even all foreign-language transmissions? Shijak should keep some evergreen recordings on hand to play back from there in such emergencies, or better yet, have a backup feed route (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36 barely audible Sept 6 at 1316 with pop music, a bit stronger than hetted 15480 Rampisham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Sept 6:
8400, very poor at 1256. No others found up to 18 MHz after 1300; E Asian conditions were generally poor today.
9855, Sept 6 at 1344 heard some FD-like music, but soon with vocals, so rules that out. Not // 9845 CNR1 jammer; gone at 1408 recheck. It`s really CRI Chinese service at 12-14, 500 kW, 215 degrees from a Beijing site, per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 9965, new frequency for DentroCuban Jamming Command, Sept 6 at 1408, heavy grind over something modulating. Or is it DRM? So hard to tell them apart. Then I also hear 4 pulses per second, so it`s jammer; later mixed with weaker 3 pulses per second, approx. Still going at 1501. Gone at 1638 check; but heavy jamming on 9800 --- oops, that`s really DRM from Sackville.
Suspect 9965 a new R. República frequency; is that right, my friend in Havana? Meanwhile 9955 WRMI with Prague was not being jammed at 1408+. 9965 could not be a punch-up error for 9955 as there are multiple jamming sites involved. The collateral victim is R. Australia via Palau, previously audible here altho no comparison to Shep on 9580, 9590; 9965 at 11-13 in English, 1300-1430 in Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
13880, RHC leapfrog, Sept 6 at 1328, S9+10 mixed with jamming clix. 13880 had not been audible a few minutes earlier as I tuned by; now fundamentals 13680 and 13780 are extremely strong, S9+25 plus; weaker `frog on other side 13580 also audible mixed with VOA Somali via Madagascar. RHC feature was ``Figuras en la Historia``, someone who could imitate flutes and contrabass with his mouth, but never heard an example (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI, Sept 6 at 1337 in English hour, Indonesian lesson marred by continuing audio dropouts every few sex degrading comprehension further; otherwise VG reception with barely audible 9525 het from unknown (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MOROCCO. 15341.1, Sept 6 at 1435, poor with Arabic music. Not only is RTM off-frequency from 15340, it is off-the-off-frequency by about 0.1 kHz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 15435, excerpt from Mme Butterfly, Sept 6 at 1324, cut to RRI outro in Chinese, IS to 1327*. So was the singing in Romanian, Chinese, or Italian? Heard too little of it to tell.
Also had weak het on low side around 15434 --- probably ChiCom jamming and/or V. of Tibet via UAE varying from nominal 15430, at 1330-1400. AFAIK, the ChiCom are not deliberately jamming RRI in Chinese, the lucky former allies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [and non]. Tnx to tip from Dan Ervin in IA, UT Sept 5, Voice of Russia now using 9665 in English at 0002 check UT Monday Sept 6. Previously, 9665 had carried Radio PMR alternating quarter-hours in English, German, French in unpredictable order, at 0000-0200 only on UT Mon-Fri, and off the air Sat-Sun, while VOR used the same transmitter for English daily starting at 0200.
Now PMR is gone (to somewhere else, or off?), and VOR appears to be using 9665 from at least 0000 to 0200. It was previously also in use at 02-04 for `Central` America, and maybe still so. The Moldovan use of 9665 at 00-02 officially ended on Sept 4, anyway.
I also checked 9890, which had been in use for VOR English to NAm at 2200-0200, and could not hear it at all at 0004 UT Sept 6. Usual DentroCuban jamming from 9885 against non-VOA, but should have been some trace of 9890 if on. So maybe 9665 replaces it for at least those two hours.
9665 itself was only fair with flutter, and with lo het from presumed Brasil, no comparison to solid signal from Serbia [non] on 9675.
We suggested long ago that VOR should use 9665 on Sat & Sun at 00-02 rather than letting it go to waste, but now they have apparently taken it over seven days a week.
Have these changes been entered on the VOR English schedule at
http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/schedule ?? Of course not! They haven`t even fixed the `15000` typo we pointed out months ago. This is probably one of a number of unpublicized VOR changes for the no longer extant `S-10` season, made in early September (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. Monitored WINB Sept 6 to see whether they would evacuate 9335 following WBCQ 9330 protests. At 1422 still on 9265 with Brother Scare. At 1457 to ID and address, but heard no mention of next frequency, off at 1458*. Then I sat on 9335 which had open carrier, but that turned out to be VOK opening at 1500. Then tuned further and at 1501 found BS on 9355, not synch 9385 WWRB, so 9355 must be new WINB frequency for him M-F at 15-16, 18-20, and now the erroneous listing of 9355 on The Overcomer Ministry website becomes correct!
No QRM heard on 9355 initially, but scheduled for IBB Tinang at 15-16, Saipan at 17-21, with VOA Vietnamese at 15-16, RFA Chinese (consequently jammed) at 18-20.
Meanwhile, 9265 is totally available during this period too. One might wonder why, if Brother Scare is such a good friend to WBCQ, he would ever allow himself to QRM it from 9335 to 9330 for a sesquimonth. Of course, 9330 is currently carrying competing gospel huxters. The buck is passed to FCC for choosing 9335.
At 1638 check, WINB back on 13570 vs CODAR for the interval between BS and BS consisting of the androgynous anapaestic preacher/ess from Fence Lake NM at 16-18, and presumably again 20-21 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9370-, WTJC, Sept 6 at 1339, quite distorted during a rendition of Amazing Grace. Can`t imagine anyone listening to that voluntarily. Even worse during another hymn at 1421: only for masochists. Time to shut the transmitter down again and fiddle with it, but they never get that homemade POS back into proper funxioning for long (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
